The Redditor-led speculative frenzy around GameStop, AMC, and BlackBerry is now spreading to an obscure cryptocurrency called dogecoin released in 2013 as a joke based on a popular meme.
The price of dogecoin jumped 300 percent in 24 hours, pushing it up to around .05 cents per coin as of Friday morning. The sudden jump led trading app Robinhood to once again intervene in markets with a temporary restriction on cryptocurrency buying activity.
"Due to extraordinary market conditions, we've temporarily turned off Instant buying power for crypto," a Robinhood spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. "Customers can still use settled funds to buy crypto. We'll keep monitoring market conditions and communicating with our customers."
Now owners of the canine-themed cryptocurrency are echoing the die-hards over at r/WallStreetBets with a phrase that's beginning to sound like a protest chant: "DO NOT SELL."
Similar to $GME, however, the value proposition for dogecoin is shaky at best, with buyers banking on social media-induced demand to cause another rapid price inflation.
Already dogecoin evangelists have gotten some support from on high. The internet's favorite financial prophet Elon Musk tweeted last night a picture of a magazine cover featuring a dog, which some saw as a tacit endorsement of the cryptocurrency.
Whether these new market-makers can pull it off remains to be seen, but if recent events are any lesson, perhaps it's time to put aside the crystal balls and just watch the feeds.
